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Patrick Mahomes Reveals How He Played Cupid for Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce
Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes takes credit for matchmaking Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift's romance.
Patrick Mahomes has a new title to add to his resume - matchmaker extraordinaire. The Kansas City Chiefs quarterback recently revealed he had a hand in igniting the romance between teammate Travis Kelce and global superstar Taylor Swift.
"I like to take some of the credit," Mahomes told The Pat McAfee Show. "I was the one who invited Travis to the first Taylor concert when the friendship bracelet [idea came up]. He was sitting in my suite, so I feel like I was the matchmaker."
Travis Kelce's Crafty Courting
The tight end previously shared his unconventional method for trying to capture Swift's attention at her July 2023 Kansas City concert.
"If you're up on Taylor Swift concerts, there are friendship bracelets, and I received a bunch of them being there," Kelce said on his New Heights podcast. "But I wanted to give Taylor Swift one with my number on it."
Though he didn't get to meet the singer that night, Kelce's bold move paid off. As Swift later told Time, "He put me on blast on his podcast, which I thought was metal as hell. We started hanging out right after that."
Patrick Mahomes Takes Credit
Mahomes says he encouraged his teammate's daring pursuit. "I had some input in there as well. I was like, 'Dude, you should go for it. Just go for it,'" the quarterback recalled. "And you know Travis, man. He does it. He's a great dude. I'm glad that it's all worked out for the best."
Once the couple went public last fall, their fairy tale relationship captivated fans. From Swift cheering on Kelce at Chiefs games to him attending her epic Eras Tour shows, the pair's mutual admiration and support charmed the world.
In her Time interview, Swift gushed, "By the time I went to that first game, we were a couple. We got to get to know each other [beforehand]. I'm grateful for [that privacy]."
What is the Taylor Swift-Travis Kelce Effect?
While Mahomes relished his role in bringing together the NFL star and music icon, their real-life love story may be inspiring another phenomenon - a surge of interest in sports romance novels.
"It's almost too good to be true," says best-selling romance author Tessa Bailey. "It's been so interesting to watch the way [Kelce's] behaving like a romance hero."
Though athlete-centered love stories have carved out a niche following, the genre is having a major moment in the mainstream.
From viral "#BookTok" hits like the hockey romance Icebreaker to a wave of baseball, basketball, soccer and football fiction, sports romances are scoring big.
"The most compelling thing about athletes is that confidence and drive," notes author KT Hoffman, whose queer baseball novel The Prospects landed a major publishing deal last year.
While sports romances traditionally featured male pro athletes falling for civilian love interests, many new releases are upending that premise. With offerings like the lesbian basketball love story How You Get the Girl and the upcoming TV adaptation of the elite soccer romance Cleat Chute show, the genre is expanding in fresh directions.
"I would have seen my life in a completely different way," says Hoffman, a trans author, of discovering trans joy in romance at a younger age.
The Taylor Swift-Travis Kelce Factor
While the celebrated pair's real-life courtship may not have singularly caused the sports romance boom, their storybook connection is certainly fanning the flames.
"Nothing happens in a vacuum," says Ripped Bodice bookstore co-owner Leah Koch. Seeing an endearing public moment like Kelce's lovestruck gaze at Swift "could usher in a new wave of people seeking out those books."
As author Rachel Reid says of the genre's surging popularity, "Even if publishing couldn't predict how that would manifest, I'm not surprised people are writing about [hope] through sports...a celebratory, communal experience."
From the gridiron to the bookstore, it seems the romantic tales of our real-life athletic heroes are inspiring plenty of people to get in on the game of love.
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